Jun 9 Banana Chia Cupcakes with Blackberry Frosting

The kids have developed such an appetite for cupcakes lately that I have to come up with different flavors to satisfy them. But our all time favorite is still these gluten-free banana chia cupcakes with blackberry frosting. This is a gluten-free variation(using brown rice flour) from our previous banana cupcakes, which were made with all-purpose flour. Ever since we discovered the brown rice flour, we are completely hooked. It works really well as a substitute to the all-purple flour in many baking recipes, esp. in the cupcake ones. And we like its mild, nutty and slightly natural sweet flavor. Have you tried rice flour before? Feel free to let me know what your favorite recipe with rice flour.

Makes 12 cupcakes

What you'll need:

3 ripe bananas

5 tbsp butter, softened

2 eggs

1 cup rice flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 dash salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp chia seeds

Blackberry Frosting:

1 cup of mascarpone

11/2 cup of blackberry puree

1/2 cup cream cheese

2 tbsp icing sugar

How it's made:

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk together rice flour, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt.

Make a well in center of flour mixture. In well, mix together butter, mashed bananas, eggs, and vanilla extract. Stir to incorporate flour mixture and add chia seeds (do not overmix). Dividing evenly, spoon batter into muffin cups.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cupcake comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan; cool completely on a wire rack.

While the cupcakes are being baked, prepare the blackberry frosting. Using a hand mixer (I used the Cuisinart 7-speed hand mixer. It is very sturdy and easy to use. And SEVEN different speed to choose from for different situations.) to mix mascarpone, cream cheese and icing sugar together. Then stir in the blackberry puree. Fill the frosting into a piping tube. If the frosting is too soft, leave it in the fridge for 20 mins. Decorate the cupcakes with the frosting.

Once the cupcakes are cooled, decorate the them with the blackberry frosting.